Everything about Atella totally explained
Atella was an ancient city of
Campania, halfway between
Naples and
Capua; its ruins lie between the towns of
Orta di Atella and
Sant'Arpino. Atella isn't mentioned until the
Second Punic War, when, although an independent city striking its own coinage, it was allied with
Capua and the other Campanian cities in siding with
Carthage after the
battle of Cannae. It was occupied by Rome in 210 BC, the chief citizens executed and the survivors enslaved or exiled; the city was refounded as a home for the refugees from
Nuceria. In the first century BC,
Cicero speaks highly of it and appears to have been its patron; it continued into imperial times as a
municipium, famed for its traditional scenic performances known as
Atellanae.
The Christian bishopric seated at Atella had its origins in 438 or 439 when Canion and eleven associates from North Africa were either expelled by
Gaiseric, the
Arian king of the
Vandals or fled:
ex Africa pulsi vel propria sponte exulantes, in Italian advecti. As 'Saint Canio he took his place among the saints and martyrs of Capua and of Campania in a mosaic iconography in the Basilica of Saint Prisco in Capua, where his image is identified with his name. His feast is recorded in the
martyrologies as 25 May.
The city had been laid waste by the eighth century to such an extent that bishop Leo of Acerenza in Lucania translated the saint's relics to
Acerenza, where he'd be made the patron saint. The
bishopric was transferred to the nearby
Norman fortress-city of
Aversa in
1030.
The ruins of the city walls, private houses, and many tombs remain, on sites in the
comuni of
Frattaminore,
Orta di Atella,
Sant'Arpino and
Succivo (these last three together made the
comune of Atella di Napoli in the mid‑1900s). Ancient territory of Atella is now represented in the
comuni of
Caivano,
Cardito, Cesa,
Frattamaggiore,
Grumo Nevano and
Sant'Antimo.
Atella is also the name of a small town founded in 1320 in the
Basilicata region of southern Italy (population 4000).
Further Information
Get more info on 'Atella'.
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